“It is important to Selina that her books help children to be more open-minded. She feels strongly that people are fundamentally the same at heart, despite labels of religion, race and class. When she was pregnant for the second time, Selina wrote and illustrated I’m Your Peanut Butter Big Brother (Knopf) about a child who wonders what his sibling-on-the-way will look like. Will it be a girl with a “cappuccino-frosted ‘fro bouncing along,” or a boy who is “ginger cookie brown or midnight licorice purple”? The fictional family bears a strong resemblance to Alko’s own: husband Sean Qualls is African American; their children Isaiah and Ginger, are biracial. Alko will again explore the idea of blended families in a book about a multi-religion household which is currently titled Hannukah Mama and Daddy Christmas (Knopf).”

“We are like the artist version of a circus family. We have six children ages from 7 to 19 living in an old home on a city lot that we have turned into a micro urban farm. The children have grown up unschooled following the twists and turns of their own peculiar interests. We make a living from the work we make and sell through our home and this website. We believe that the art that we create actually has the potential to make peoples lives more alive. After spending 16 years working with high profile galleries in Chicago, Seattle and NYC, we have decided to leave the gallery model behind and connect directly with collectors. When you purchase our work you not only complete the circuit, but you also enable us to continue our journey”